Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a healthcare system, and more particularly, to a healthcare system that enables communication among suppliers, providers, patients, and regulatory agencies to provide comprehensive management of numerous aspects of transactions among the system participants.
Description of Related Art
One focus of automated healthcare management systems has been centralized inventory control. U.S. Pat. No. 6,996,538 in some ways exemplifies the many such systems disclosed in the prior art. This patent describes a system for controlling healthcare supply inventories that keeps track of usage of healthcare supplies, enables automatic ordering for replacing inventory as it is used, and automates billing. Such an inventory control system is particularly useful for large medical practices and hospitals. However, this system and systems like it, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,021,392, 7,737,858, Pub. No. US 2005/0075954, Pub. No. US 2010/0090004, and Pub. No. US 2010/0141457, do not enable the various participants in the system, especially physicians, to monitor transactions in a manner that can prevent fraud and other abusive behaviors practiced by some segments of the healthcare industry which can jeopardize patient well-being. Some prior inventory control systems also include additional functionalities, such as sharing data on usage of products with government bodies or public health institutions and interfacing with insurance providers. Examples of inventory control systems with these kinds of added functionalities can be found in Pub. No. US 2012/0047049, Pub. No. US 2012/0203566, and Pub. No. US 2012/0278288. However, these systems are also not directed toward preventing behaviors that can jeopardize patient care.
Pub. No. US 2012/0173287 discloses an Internet-based inventory control system in which pharmaceutical manufacturers, healthcare providers such as physicians and pharmacies, and patients can all participate. It also discloses a “sample closet” maintained by healthcare providers for managing free medication samples provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers. As those familiar with today's healthcare landscape know, such samples are an important aspect of most healthcare providers' patient care activities. Pub. No. US 2012/0173287 discusses some of the ways such samples benefit healthcare providers, but it does not discuss ways to maintain strict control over the receipt and dispensing of such samples to prevent adverse effects on patient care. The present invention addresses those shortcomings, as will be discussed in detail in the discussion below of preferred embodiments of the present invention and methods for implementing them.
Another aspect of the present invention advantageously incorporates the patient treatment device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,206,340 in the name of the present inventor. This device has multiple functionalities that facilitate patient self management of medical conditions such as diabetes. U.S. Pat. No. 9,357,961, also in the name of the present inventor, expands the functionality of the original device by describing embodiments that enable patient self-testing and -treatment of numerous specific pathologies as well as describing the enhanced functionality provided by enabling these types of devices to communicate with various components of a modern healthcare system. While the devices disclosed in the '340 and '961 patents have the ability to improve patient outcomes in and of themselves, their utility can be greatly enhanced beyond the intrinsic value of efficacious patient treatment by properly integrating them into an interconnected healthcare infrastructure such as that comprising an important part of the present invention.
Missing from the known prior art is an integrated healthcare system that is sufficiently “global” in scope to incorporate and provide intercommunication and interfunctionality among myriad aspects of a modern healthcare landscape, while maintaining a focus that protects the interests of healthcare providers and their patients.